Spotify and Uber to Announce New Partnership

The companies are expected to make the news public on Monday

Streaming service Spotify has partnered with ride-sharing company Uber to allow Spotify users to play their music in Uber vehicles. The companies are expected to make the announcement during a press call Monday morning that will be hosted by Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick and a "special guest partner," according to invites sent out by Uber's public relations team.

Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek will likely join Kalanick on the conference call, sources told the Times. A report at TechCrunch reveals how the partnership could play out in vehicles. If the Uber vehicle has an auxiliary audio input, the driver's Uber-provided mobile phone will stream music via the passenger's Spotify app. A video (in French) uploaded to Vimeo 10 months ago — apparently an advertisement — seems to lay out the process from the customer's point of view: a man listening to music on headphones hails a cab on Uber and, upon entering the cab, finds that his music is playing on the car's stereo. The end of the ad says, according to Google translate, "Your driver, Uber. Pace your life to the sound of Spotify."

It was not immediately clear how software applications between the two companies would work together or whether a new app would be required to use the new feature.

While it lacks the obvious benefit of a partnership with, say, a mobile carrier, Spotify's relationship with Uber doesn't have an immediately clear downside either. If nothing else, Spotify will benefit from being associated with a thriving business that, according to Business Insider, is expected next year to generate $2 billion in revenue on rider spending of $10 billion.